British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association

Incident Reports (Informal)

Incident reports received by the BHPA are available in summary form on this page. If you're looking for reports of formal investigations undertaken in the case of a serious incident, please visit our Incident Reports (formal investigations) page.

Incident reports are available in summary form for the following wing types:

• All Wing Types
• Paraglider
• Flexwing Hang Glider
• Rigid Hang Glider
• Speedrider
• Speedflyer/Miniwing
• Powered PG
• Powered HG
• Other

Incident reports for all wing types are displayed below in summary form.

The BHPA incident reports database is fully searchable. To refine your search you can specify a particular wing type and select "or" or "and". For example, if you want to search for paraglider incidents at Hay Bluff, for best search results select paraglider from the drop down list and the "and" option.

If you want to search by incident date, please enter the day, month and year numerically as dd-mm-yyyy (eg. 03-12-2019).

All Wing Types Paraglider Flexwing Hang Glider Rigid Hang Glider Speedrider Speedflyer/Miniwing Powered PG Powered HG Other

or and

If known, total hours and total flights flown are displayed below together with hours and flights flown in the past six months, the latter being displayed in brackets.

There are 3239 entries for all wing types

Displaying page 58 out of 324

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 25.05.2020	Pilot Male Rating: AP Flying Experience: 16 years 194 hours (1 hour) 473 flights (2 flights)	Location Milk Hill Bowl, Pewsey, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: 777 Rook2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was thermalling with others and struck the hill having altered his turn to make way for another glider.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs
Date 25.05.2020	Pilot Male Age: 25 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 6 years 44 hours (22 hours) 106 flights (36 flights)	Location Bradwell Edge, Bradwell, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Calm	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Nova Mentor 4 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot noticed during pre-flight check that the carabiner attaching the riser to the harness was incorrectly fastened though the pod fairing and not to the correct harness fastening point on the webbing structure.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 20.05.2020	Pilot Male Rating: CP Flying Experience: 7 years	Location Mere, 16 - 18 mph thermic, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: 777 Pawn Launch Type: Foot	Summary A paraglider pilot lost control of his wing and was dragged whilst attempting to launch. He collided with a bystander (a dual passenger), causing bruising to the bystander. The pilot was uninjured.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 18.05.2020	Pilot Male Age: 68 Rating: P Flying Experience: 47 years (4 hours) (6 flights)	Location Freathy, Plymouth, UK Wind Strength: 35-40 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Rigid Hang Glider Wing: AIR ATOS VQ Launch Type: Foot	Summary The right hand leg loop of the pilot's Woody Valley Tenax 3 harness became detached on launch. The pilot was able to re-attach the buckle in flight.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 16.05.2020	Pilot Male Age: 28 Rating: CP Hill Flying Experience: 10 years 17 hours (1 hour) 30 flights (1 flight)	Location Wetton Hill, Staffs, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone RUSH 5 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot ground handling on a hillside in thermic conditions was inadvertently lifted to approx 300ft agl. He used the speed bar to aid his descent and suffered a full frontal collapse which re-inflated just before impact.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Lumbar Spine
Date 16.05.2020	Pilot Male Age: 60 Flying Experience: 34 years	Location Swyre Hill, Dorchester, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: BGD Cure 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was soaring on a new wing and was seen to be flying the wing slowly. Just above the top of the hill he made a turn and the glider started to spin. The pilot reacted by applying the control on the opposite side. The wing was seen to enter a deep stall and the pilot descended vertically to impact the hill.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 15.05.2020	Pilot Male Age: 59 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 9 years 76 hours (6 hours) 153 flights (3 flights)	Location Combe Gibbet, Hungerford, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: BGD Punk Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was using his paraglider to kite back up the hill, downwind of a line of trees, in thermic conditions. He was inadvertently lifted off the ground in a gust and before he could gain control was turned into the hill where he suffered injury.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs
Date 15.05.2020	Pilot Male Age: 51 Rating: P Flying Experience: 20 years 500 hours 1000 flights	Location Combe gibbet, Inkpen, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Nova Mentor 5 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot had mid-air collision with another paraglider while thermalling close to the ridge on a crowded day. Both pilots were unhurt.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 15.05.2020	Pilot Male Age: 57 Flying Experience: 8 years 60 hours (3 hours) 105 flights (6 flights)	Location Challow, SWINDON, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Powered PG Wing: Dudek Universal Launch Type: Powered Engine: Parajet, Maverick	Summary Pilot was practising walking with the motor running on his back without a wing but slipped and fell over. Pilot released throttle but didn't hit the kill switch quickly enough. Throttle cable struck prop and wrapped round the exhaust. Kill switch did not function, with engine stuck on half throttle. Eventually exhaust melted throttle cable and engine stopped. No Injuries.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 15.05.2020	Pilot Male Age: 51 Rating: P	Location Selsley Common, Stroud, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Moderate	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Skywalk Arak Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot experienced a collapse in thermic air above takeoff. The pilot applied the controls in an attempt to damp the dive and control his pendulum under the wing. The wing was seen to descend vertically in a stalled state and the pilot impacted the hill.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Lumbar Spine

Last updated: 5 January 2025

Displaying page 58 out of 324

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A number of incident analysis reports are also available in the safety section of our website. These are compiled from the individual incident reports submitted during the course of each year.

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